The Life of a Farmboy
by Starr
Summary: The journal Luke keeps throughout the OT


This is a journal of the OT from Luke's point of view. I am aware that this is perhaps the most unoriginal idea anyone has ever had, but I'm not writing it to create some mind-blowingly complex AU. I'm doing it primarily as a writing exercise and a way for me to engage in character study while still sticking with the constraints of plot. I've got 4 AU's on the go and they're all stalling out at one place or another, so I want something that's straightforward and simple to keep my brain moving. This is movie-canon only. When ANH ends and I've got to bridge the gap until ESB, I'm doing it on my own. No comics, no Splinter. The first day's worth of entries, in my opinion, are slightly meh, but I think Luke's life was slightly meh until things started happening. It'll pick up soon!

Entry one:

The Jawas came through today. We bought two droids-a gold protocol one who talks a lot and an R2 unit. Uncle Owen wanted an R5, but its motivator blew after about 6 seconds. I was supposed to go into Tosche Station to pick up some power convertors, but my uncle's making me stay here and clean the blasted droids. I told him I had plans and he treated me like a little kid again, just like he always does. It's not fair! I was going into Tosche Station because he TOLD me to! Waste time with my friends...it's not even worth it to try and go out there anymore, not since Biggs left.

I've got to get to cleaning those droids up so they can get started tomorrow morning. I'm going to talk to Uncle Owen at dinner about this-I think if the droids work out and they end up being good workers (and if that gold one can work nearly as well as he can talk, we're set), I could transmit my application to the Academy this year. It'd be the season before the harvest, but with two more droids, I don't know why he even needs me around anymore. He can get on without my help just fine.

Things are looking up. Maybe I'll be flying with Biggs soon. A couple of shooting stars...

Entry two:

I saw a girl...the most beautiful girl I've ever seen! I was cleaning the R2 unit and he had something sort of jammed into one of his drives and I guess I triggered something because suddenly there was a holo of a girl. Something was wrong with the message, it kept skipping, and all I got was her saying "help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." She was so...I can't even describe how I felt when I saw her. Like all I wanted was to be with her. Like we belonged together. That's so strange, I know. And I wanted to just keep staring at her, but when I took off the droid's restraining bolt, he didn't seem to know what I was asking for when I told him to play the whole thing. I'm going to work on him some more after dinner. I don't know who this Obi Wan Kenobi is...old Ben might know...but if she's in trouble, I want to be able to help her. I mean, I'm not going to leave the farm or anything (the gold droid who talks all the time said something about them being involved with the Rebellion, and I definitely can't get involved in that!), but if she's really in trouble and Ben knows someone who can help her...well, I don't want to be the one responsible for anything happening to her. I don't think I could handle knowing that.

The droids were involved in the Rebellion somehow, they might be stolen, there's this beautiful girl who needs help, and when I look at her I feel like I never want to stop looking at her. It feels huge. Like something is about to happen. I know it is.

Entry three:

I hate it here. I tried to tell Uncle Owen about Obi Wan Kenobi and he got mad and wouldn't let me ask any questions about it. And either this Obi Wan or old Ben knew my father, and he _still_ wouldn't tell me anything about it! It's not fair! He's _my_ father and I don't know anything about him! A navigator on a spice freighter? That doesn't mean anything! It's boring, and I know my father wasn't boring. He wasn't. He had dreams and fears and he was the best pilot this Sith-forsaken planet has ever seen. He had to have been. And now Uncle Owen wants me to take the droids into Anchorhead tomorrow to have their memories wiped. That's it? We can just sweep this all under the table and pretend none of it ever happened? Pretend Obi Wan Kenobi doesn't exist, pretend my father doesn't exist, pretend that girl doesn't exist...what am I going to do about that girl? "I told you to forget it"? I can't forget about her. I just can't do it.

So after that whole mess I brought up transmitting my application a season early. That didn't go well. He wouldn't even discuss it with me. Same as always. It'll just be another year, he needs me here, I have to understand...well, I _don't_ understand! I don't understand at all! There's more than enough droids! There's no reason for me to stay here when I could be off exploring the stars with Biggs. But I'm stuck here and it's just not fair! I just feel so helpless and so frustrated, like there's something inside of me that's building and building and wants to explode but has nowhere to go. I was worried I'd say something that would get me into even more trouble, so I went and sat outside and watched the suns set for a while. It calmed me down a little, but not much. It's strange that you can feel lost in the home you've lived in your whole life. I don't know if lost is the right word, but I feel out of place, like I don't belong here. When I was a kid, I used to try and count the stars at night. I thought I would visit all of them someday. Now I don't know if I'll ever get off this blasted farm.

I should go work on the droids again. Maybe that R2 unit will know how to contact Obi Wan Kenobi and I can ask him who that girl is.

Entry four:

Kreth! I am in _so_ much trouble! I went back into the garage to deal with that R2 unit and instead I found the gold one hiding in a corner. He babbled for a minute and I finally realized what he was going off about-the R2 unit ran off! The blasted little thing ran off to try and find Kenobi! I ran outside with my macros and I couldn't even see him anymore, so I couldn't go after him. If my uncle finds out, he'll kill me! He'll absolutely kill me. I won't need to worry about having to wait another year to go to the Academy, because I'll be dead! Stars, the Academy...I'll never get to go to the Academy now. He'll use this against me for the rest of my life. Ok, think, Skywalker. Think. He got far enough to be out of range of the macros, but he can't have gotten _that_ far. It'll be daylight soon enough, and as soon as the suns are up I can go looking for him. I'll take the other one, we'll take the speeder out early, we'll find him, I'll get their memories wiped, and we'll be back by midday.

So many things could go wrong with this. He could get damaged by the sand, but that's the _least_ of my worries. He could fall into Beggar's Canyon, he could get stolen by the Sandpeople...he could get picked up by the Jawas, who'd probably have the nerve to try and sell him to us again! I could wander the Wastes for years and not find him. I guess that last one doesn't matter, because if I don't find him, I'm not going home again. No way. I'll just run away and enlist in the Imperial Navy right off. I'm a fair enough pilot. I'd clean the floors on a Star Destroyer if it means I don't have to tell my uncle I lost his new droid.

I can't believe this! I took the restraining bolt off so I could see the entire message with that girl, and then he runs off on me! He's so little! I don't understand how this happened!

That other droid is almost cowering right now, if you can picture a droid cowering. It'd be funny if I weren't so blasted sure that he could have stopped this somehow. Oh well...what's done is done, I guess. I'll be able to get the R2 unit on the speeder's sensors, so as long as he doesn't get stolen or destroyed while it's dark, I'll be fine. Uncle Owen won't even know this happened. I just don't want to hear him call me a fool again, tell me I'm irresponsible and thoughtless just like my father was. I don't think my father was irresponsible and thoughtless. I'd at least like to believe he wasn't.


End file.
